.
As "The Knight's Tale" proceeds, we see the Theseus and his troops in high spirits ride back after his victory on battlefield. Typical of a chivalric setting, Theseus conquers his enemy and wins the greeting and reverence from his people. Nevertheless, his over joy runs so wild that it almost spoils his reason and makes him slight the sorrow from the ladies, who have suffered the militant invasion causing their husbands' death. Contrast to the energetic heroism of the warriors, however, the ladies make cries and woes in quest of the king's indignation and reprisal for them. .
"Lord, to whom Fortune hath yiven.
Victorie, and as a conqueror to lyven,.
Nat greveth us youre glorie and youre honour,.
But we biseken mercy and socour.
Have mercy on oure wo and oure distresse!.
Som drope of pitee, thurgh thy gentillesse,".
the oldest lady speaks. The female fragility therefore functions to bolster the masculine power. On the other hand, while the tale goes to the scene that the two knights, Arcite and Palamon, fall in love with Emilye at the first sight, a typical chivalric love takes place. Emilye, noble and beautiful, deserves the knights' wooing. The two knights, with equal talents and cultivation, seek to obtain their angel through military might. "In these texts (courtly tradition's lyric and narrative poetry) woman appears as a physically desirable but difficult-to-attain goal for her refined though still unworthy lover, often her social inferior," Lillian M. Bisson states in Chaucer and the Late Medieval World. However difficult and cruel, the two knights give every effort to win Emilye. Giving way to brotherhood, friendship, and life, love plays its crucial role in the chivalric performance. "The experience of love ennobles the lover: he becomes braver in battle, eager to perform any service that will highlight his devotion to his lady, and humble about his unworthiness." .
Nevertheless, as the tale focuses on the courtly love seeking of the knights, Emilye's personal inclination is hardly central on the spotlight.
